Footnotes

See letter from L. A. J. Quetelet, 15 December 1870. CD had been nominated for the zoological section of the Académie des Sciences on 27 June 1870 (Comptes Rendus de l’Académie des Sciences 70 (1870): 1418). The Institut de France includes five academies, one of which is the Académie de Sciences. CD was nominated a further five times without success, until he was finally elected to the botanical section in 1878 (Corsi and Weindling 1985, p. 699). For more on the controversy over CD’s election, see the letter from Armand de Quatrefages, 18 July 1870 and n. 6.

See Beneden 1870a, pp. 105–6. Beneden suggested that the early development in embryos of Sacculina (a genus of Rhizocephala) resembled that of many annelid worms. Beneden had earlier described the embryonic development of Lernaea, a genus of parasitic copepods, commonly known as anchor worms (Beneden and Bessels 1868, pp. 440–1).

Beneden did not publish on Nebalia, a genus of sea fleas, now in the order Leptostraca. Nebalia had been considered by some to be a divergent form of Phyllopoda, but by 1872 Carl Friedrich Claus had reclassified it as a primitive form of Malacostraca (see Claus 1872, pp. 329–30).

The barnacle species Anelasma squalicola lives on some species of sharks with its peduncle embedded in the shark’s skin. Peltogaster is a genus of Rhizocephala that parasitises hermit crabs. CD had suggested A. squalicola might be a link to Rhizocephala after reading F. Müller 1864 (see Correspondence vol. 13, letter to Fritz Müller, 10 August 1865 and n. 7). For Dohrn’s views on the relationship between A. squalicola and Peltogaster, see Dohrn 1875, p. 72.

Translation

From Edouard van Beneden1 17 December 1870

Liège

17 December 1870

Dear Sir and illustrious Colleague,

I felt a real joy on learning of your nomination as an Associate member of the Académie royale de Belgique and I cannot prevent myself from telling you how happy I am to see that in this matter the Belgians have taught the members of the Institut de France a lesson.—2 May all the learned bodies of the world protest, like the Academy of Belgium, against the debate they dared instigate on the question of your scientific merits. Your name summarises the whole scientific movement of recent years and your immortal work is above all attacks by clericalism or ignorance.— I was indignant, as must all be who know your work, on reading this discussion, which is another blot on the record for this institution, to add to all those that French science has experienced in recent years.—

In Belgium the younger generation has hoisted the standard of intellectual independence and has thrown off prejudice and preconceived ideas. And if among men of a riper age there are some who have not accepted your ideas, at least they have been able to place your merits above their personal convictions.—

I am happy and proud to have been named a correspondent of the Academy on the same day that you were Elected as an associate.—

I am sending you copies of some of my work.3 Please receive them as a demonstration of my profound respect. As you will see, I am working on the same question as Dohrn: the embryogeny of the Crustaceans.4 I think I have reached a fine result: the demonstration through embryogeny of the derivation of the articulates from a sort of Worm. (Embr. of Sacculina.—id. of the Lernaeans)5

I am continuing these researches and publications and I hope soon to be able to construct the genealogical tree for this group.— I have not come to the same conclusions as Dohrn.6 I hope to be able to send you the development of Nebalia very soon.—7

Recently I had the opportunity to study the organisation of Anelasma squalicola. I hold, with Dohrn, that this is the transition to the Peltagastes.8 I was perfectly able to find the roots plunged into the flesh, just as you depicted them.—9 The mouthparts exist in a rudimentary state.

Footnotes

See letter from L. A. J. Quetelet, 15 December 1870. CD had been nominated for the zoological section of the Académie des Sciences on 27 June 1870 (Comptes Rendus de l’Académie des Sciences 70 (1870): 1418). The Institut de France includes five academies, one of which is the Académie de Sciences. CD was nominated a further five times without success, until he was finally elected to the botanical section in 1878 (Corsi and Weindling 1985, p. 699). For more on the controversy over CD’s election, see the letter from Armand de Quatrefages, 18 July 1870 and n. 6.

See Beneden 1870a, pp. 105–6. Beneden suggested that the early development in embryos of Sacculina (a genus of Rhizocephala) resembled that of many annelid worms. Beneden had earlier described the embryonic development of Lernaea, a genus of parasitic copepods, commonly known as anchor worms (Beneden and Bessels 1868, pp. 440–1).

Beneden did not publish on Nebalia, a genus of sea fleas, now in the order Leptostraca. Nebalia had been considered by some to be a divergent form of Phyllopoda, but by 1872 Carl Friedrich Claus had reclassified it as a primitive form of Malacostraca (see Claus 1872, pp. 329–30).

The barnacle species Anelasma squalicola lives on some species of sharks with its peduncle embedded in the shark’s skin. Peltogaster is a genus of Rhizocephala that parasitises hermit crabs. CD had suggested A. squalicola might be a link to Rhizocephala after reading F. Müller 1864 (see Correspondence vol. 13, letter to Fritz Müller, 10 August 1865 and n. 7). For Dohrn’s views on the relationship between A. squalicola and Peltogaster, see Dohrn 1875, p. 72.